Location: Doesn't matter. The question u should be asking is "where r u?"

Posts: 2,602

"Oh, an explosion, should of known an explotion should have something to do with it," Mike said as he strached one of his tenticles with his left hand "Very well, we'll cover you. Just be carefull and don't shoot yourself in the foot, I heard the story about your first mission. Is there anything me and my lovely cruiser can do to help?"

Lake thought a moment. She looked at her sergeant, who, apparently thinking the same thing she was, nodded vigorously. "Yeah, Mike," Lake said into the com. "As a matter of fact there is. Think you can lay down some cover fire for us when we eventually bail out? Evading enemy fire in a shuttle while trying to outrun a blast wave really isn't my idea of fun."

The giant Mandalorian stomped over to where Castov had fallen on to the floor, Castov pulled himself to his feet and shook his head to get rid of the ringing in his ears. As the Mandalorian got closer Castov made a fist and leapt forward striking the Mandalorian hard in the face. The huge man took the punch like it was dealt from a small child and smiled at the smaller man.

“I thought you Jedi were suppose to be tough.” He exclaimed as he grabbed Castov by the throat and held his body against the wall.

As Castov began to choke he tried to gather what strength he could and used his fist to punch at the Mandalorians midsection. Castov let out a muffled yelp as his hand impacted the Mandalorian’s armour plating. CJ felt the air in his lungs slowly run out as the huge hands squeezed around his neck slowly taking life from his body. Jesp had almost given up hope when a hissing noise could be heard, the Mandalorian smiled and then fell to the floor in a heap. Castov followed his attacker to the ground and then looked up to see the Twi’lek prisoner holding his very own lightsaber. Looking back at the ground he saw the Mandalorian’s spine had a gaping hole where a lightsaber had been stabbed into it.

“Thanks.” Castov said gasping for air. “But when I tell the story of this rescue, I killed the big guy.”

Castov held his hand out and used the force to pull the lightsaber out of the young woman’s hand.

Location: Doesn't matter. The question u should be asking is "where r u?"

Posts: 2,602

"Could of falled me," Mike replied, regarding to her feelings about her quick escape "We'll cover you, signal us when your ready Lake, we're moving in poistion now so when you are ready to make your great escape, we'll be ready for you. Mike out."

"Mandalorian battle cruisers aren't exactly the easiest things to slip by." Anya said as she appeared at Lux's side, putting the blade of her saber through the visor of the Mandalorian troop coming up behind him before he had time to do it himself. Hardly pausing, she kicked the now-limp suit of fifty pound battle armor backwards, toppling onto his nearest companion and flooring him as well. She hardly paused as she whirled into action against another trooper off to her left, her back still to the other two Jedi.

"I only chanced upon the distress signal," she continued, "Lux was the one who pointed it out to me. As you -- can see," - she had to pause for breath after deflecting a lunge from a vibroblade and, using a combination of the force and the sword as leverage, delivered a kick to its owner's head that set its helmet ringing - "His fighter's a little -- banged up," - coming down from the kick, she landed in a crouch in time to kick the legs out from another Mandalorian, putting her lightsaber through the thick armor of his chest - "And he was looking for a safe place to put down."

Another vibrosword came down at her, its shining blade thirsting for the chance to cleave open her head. Grabbing her saber in both hands, she threw it up to catch the weapon and hold it at bay. Using one of her hands, she grabbed her assailant's gauntlet and twisted her full body - making it seem more like they were dancing, and he were spinning her, rather than fighting - and twisted his hand until he dropped the weapon to the ground with a clatter. Releasing his hand as her back faced him, she swung her saber back along her side to stab through his side. As he fell to the ground with a clatter, she put her foot under the blade he had dropped and flicked it up into the air. Catching it, she threw it like a javeline and - with the help of the Force - managed to put it through the shoulder of a Mandalorian that was creeping up behind Pallas.

Breathing a sigh, she stood straight and brushed a lock of stray hair out of her face, as if nothing had happened, giving Pallasyndra a nonchalant smile. "And so now we're here."

Pallas was grateful for the appearance of the two younger Jedi Knights, as they were far more combat-oriented than she was. Together, the three of them carved their way into the Mandalorian lines, whittling down the enemy numbers until there were only a handful of soldiers left, clustered behind a prefabricated bunker.

Wiping her sweaty brow, Pallas frowned as her hand came away with a reddish tinge. "Damn," she swore as she, Lux and Anya stalked up to the last remaning Mandalorian bunker. "Will you surrender?" she called out. In response, a thermal detonator floated up over the bunker and towards the Jedi. Pallas sighed, catching the det in the air with the Force and sending it back. The Mandalorians scrambled out as the device exploded, destroying the bunker. Pallas strode up to the closest Mandalorian and placed the tip of her lit lightsaber at the soldier's neck. "How about now?" she asked.

The Mandalorian, who had scars running down his face, merely sneered at her. "You think you've won, Jedi."

Pallas glanced around, surveying the scene, then looked back down at he prone warrior. "Yeah," she said simply.

He spit on her boots. "Sure, just think that when you're all blasted to space dust," he said menacingly. Pallas raised an eyebrow, then reared back and kicked the Mandalorian square in the head, knocking him unconscious. As his body went limp, something rolled out of his newly unclenched fist. Bending down to pick it up, Pallas saw it was a timer of some sort, counting down. Suddenly, she knew.

"Lux, Anya," she called her fellow Jedi, a note of urgency in her voice. "We have a problem."

Castov and the young Twi’lek, Geonar Eldum, had gotten off of the Detention block and began their journey to the rear of the ship. Castov knew this class of ship well as it wasn’t Mandalorian in design but was built by the Zabrak and taken as a spoil of war. Castov was fortunate enough to have been assigned to a Zabrak master when he became a padawan, the master was also the Jedi Liaison assigned to Irodia for a year. While on Irodia CJ met many Zabrak including the now Admiral To’Knel and became immerse in there society, he found they were a race of soldiers but not like the bloodthirsty Mandalorians. They had a great navy but unfortunately were outmatched by the Mandalorian hordes that chose to attack the Irodian territories.

The prisoner and her rescuer were heading to the rear of the ship because Castov knew there would be escape pods that they could get off the ship in. He chose to take those ones as he could stop off at the engine rooms and leave the Mandies a little farewell present. They’d managed to evade those who were looking for them by sneaking along the corridors and diving into the rooms when they heard someone coming. This plan had worked out for the two of them and they had gotten all the way to the corridor leading in to the room. Only a single sentry droid stood guard outside the door and was easily disposed of with a quick through of his lightsaber.

CJ hacked the control panel to open the door no more than a few millimetres so he could peek through the gap. Jesp could see three Mandalorians working on the engines, all un-armoured and all occupied with keeping the engines running. Castov made a conscious decision to play this quietly, use stealth to take out each of the mechanics without the others noticing. Although he didn’t have a stealth belt on him he knew he had to try anyway, if just one of them noticed these Mandalorians wouldn’t fight they’d call for help and then that would serious hinder the escape.

Lux extinguished his lightsaber as he walked up to Pallas. "What's wrong?" he asked.

She turned and held up a small device with a red digital display. The numbers were counting down.

"Oh." He took the grenade-sized device out of her hand. "We should just toss this before..." He trailed off as his psychometry kicked in, flashing images before his eyes. A large black shape...blinking lights...lots of machinery... Lux blinked and shook his head, still clutching the timer.

Anya came up beside him. "What's going on?"

Rubbing his temple, he looked at her. "There's a gravity bomb on this ship. And it's set to explode in five minutes."

I then reported to the bridge of "The Defiant" and greeted Tegan Marr , I actually remember her when I was training in Coruscant , I was a kid and she was teen then I was send to Dantooine where my new master was awaiting me, she lost her master too, It has been long since I don’t see or talk to her I hope she haven’t forgotten me.

“Greetings, Tegan thank you for the help and for rescuing me and my soldiers, we owe you our lives. 2 mandalorian heavy bomber ships destroyed our flag ship "The Shield IV”, I have some important information a good strategic that I and my officers managed to study" Then I inserted a datapad into a computer " 2 heavy mandalorian bombers, weak shields but strong cannons and lasers, they are a rock that cant be broken, they saw us when we escaped, I'm afraid they are coming this way. If there is something I can do to help you let me know, I prefer to do something that stand here and look at the fight and mist the action , So if you have a Republic assault fighter I’ll be more than happy"- I said

"Evil is a word used by the ignorant and the weak. The dark side is about survival. It's about unleashing your inner power. It glorifies the strength of the individual."

"I thought landing-slash-crashing my starfighter onto this ship was the stupidest idea I've ever had," Lux replied, leaping over a bulkhead. He and Anya were sprinting down corridors, using the Force to speed up their running as they made their way across the inside of the Republic battle cruiser. Using their combined psychometric abilities on the timer, they'd managed to get a general location of where the bomb had been planted. There had been some initial confusement and indecision as to what to do, but as the timer had already ticked down to 4:41, Lux had made up his mind and taken off at a run, Anya following soon after. By the time the display had ticked down to 2:30, they were already halfway across the ship.

"And what do you suppose we do once we get to the bomb?" Anya asked as they shot down another narrow corridor.

"I hadn't really thought about that," Lux responded.

Anya sighed.

(( Thanks to FFWM for letting me take liberties with her charry ^-^ ))

Anya rolled her eyes, shaking her head. "No, of course you didn't." she muttered to herself. That, of course, would make things far too easy.

As they dashed through the corridors, she caught sight of another Mandalorian boarding party coming through one of the airlocks left empty from a released escape pod. As a group of Republic soldiers converged on the area, she wanted nothing more than to stop and fight - many soldiers would die in the initial few minutes of the encounter, she knew - but she couldn't stop. The destruction of the entire ship over the death of a few soldiers sort of weighed out.

She and Lux sped on, the Force aiding their flight. Finally, they came to the end of their trail, the room where their trail ended. They flashed through the entire room, tearing apart and searching every nook and cranny before meeting in the center of the room. Anya's eyes were worried.

Lux put a hand on his hip, his other still clutching the timer. The red display showed that they had less than a minute left. Swearing under his breath, he took a glance around. The Mandalorians had certainly picked the right room to plant their bomb in. It held the spent energy cores for the mighty cruiser engines. Spent as they were, they were still volatile and would not be pleasant at all if they exploded. The thing was, they had checked every single core and not one of them had the bomb attached to it. In fact, there didn't seem to be any indication that the Mandalorians had even set foot in this room.

Stalking up to the wall, Lux let out a growl of frustration as he placed a hand on the bulkhead. "I know it's here somewhere!" he exclaimed, gripping the timer tighter in his hand. Suddenly, more images flashed into his mind, clearer than before. A Mandalorian shuttlecraft...flying up to the side of the Republic cruiser...docking... His eyes flew wide open as he came to understand what he was seeing. Igniting his lightsaber, he stabbed it through the hull wall.

"Lux!" Anya yelled. "What in Sithspit do you think you're doing?"

"Contact the bridge," Lux ordered as he worked his saber downwards, the room already starting to depressurize from the hole he'd created. "Tell them to get ready to slap down a containment field around this room. It's about to get very windy."

Anya nodded and did as she was told, then ignited her lightsaber as she realized what Lux was doing. "The bomb is on the outside of the ship," she said as she stabbed her own lightsaber into the wall.

Lux nodded grimly as he glanced at the timer. "This is going to be close," he said, sawing furiously.

The Jedi’s target was currently working at a console and was obviously two busy trying to distribute power from one system to another. CJ moved quickly towards the first Mandalorian from behind, CJ had to take this guy out silently that meant he couldn’t use his lightsaber because of it’s distinct sound. Jesp got close enough to the Mandalorian to act and grabbed him from behind by placing his hand on his mouth and forehead, a quick twist of the head snapped the neck and the Mandalorians body went limp. Castov softly knelt holding the mans body and placed it on the floor, he didn’t want to kill a man like that but if all went to plan he would be dead in a few minutes anyway and this was less painful.

The second Mandalorian was knelt down next to a piece of machinery that had its panel taken off revealing its circuits. Next to him was a toolbox with various different pieces of equipment including a plasma torch, a hydrospanner and analytical devices. He was completely oblivious to the happenings around him as he worked on the open panel, trying to repair some of the circuitry. Castov once again employed the same tactic as before and snuck silently and softly behind the Mandalorian. The mechanic worked on the circuit but something caught the his eye on the chrome plating surrounding the panel, the reflection of a light on the back wall was blocked by Castov’s body and got his attention. The Mandalorian waited for Castov to get closer pretending he didn’t know the Jedi was sneaking up behind him, he nonchalantly reached into his tool kit and grabbed the plasma torch. Like a flash the second mechanic swung the torch around to hit him in the side of the head, CJ’s reflexes kicked in and he moved backwards. He wasn’t quick enough, as he moved in back the torch swung round and hit him in his left eye. Castov screamed as the torch burnt his eye and the surrounding skin, with his left hand he held his eye. Almost instinctively he used his right hand to through the Mandalorian across the room with the force.

As the Mandalorians body smacked the wall with a loud bang it alerted the third Mandalorian who was working on a console. The remaining mechanic looked up to see his comrade falling to the floor unconscious if not dead, turning his head he saw the jedi still holding his hand infront of his eye but looking at him with his other. The Mandalorian begun to run towards the nearest alarm, with his free hand Jesp grabbed his lightsaber and threw it. As it flew over the floor the lightsaber’s blade ignited and cut through the Mandalorians chest.

Castov fell back to his knees with all the Mandalorians in the room either dead or unconscious. He continued to hold his eye with both of his hands as Geonar ran over to him.

Pallas had understood what her two fellow Jedi had done when they ran off with the timer. Being Kiffar, they had used their innate psychometric gifts to discern where the bomb was and had run off to try and defuse it. She knew it was a longshot with so little time left, but they were Jedi, and through the Force, all things were possible. Still, it didn't hurt to make preparations for the worst.

Walking tiredly up to Commander Assant, she stood in front of the tall Republic officer. "Commander, I recommend you move as many of your men over to the starboard side of the ship. It might get a little bumpy to port very soon."

Assant proffered a raised eyebrow, then shook his head and spoke into his comlink, complying with Pallas' suggestion. "Let me guess," he told Pallas after he'd finished issuing orders. "There's a bomb or something equally bad on the other side of the ship and your Jedi buddies are off to go defuse it or take care of it in some way."

Pallas couldn't help but grin a little at the commander's intuition. "Why Commander Assant, are you Force sensitive? Because that is exactly what they are doing."

He sighed. "When you've been fighting battles as long as I have, you learn to read body language whether you like it or not." His eyes traveled over to the cut on her cheek and her hand over her abdomen. "And just from reading yours, I know you need medical assistance."

She chuckled mirthlessly as the young lieutenant from her fire team came up next to them. "Now you sound like him," she muttered, jerking a thumb over in the younger man's direction.

It was Commander Assant's turn to chuckle as he returned the lieutenant's salute. "Lieutenant Gardevoir is a good soldier and you cannot really fault him for wanting to look after his superior."

"No, I guess I can't," Pallas replied with a knowing look in Gardevoir's direction. "Will you be taking me to see your medic now, Lieutenant?"

Gardevoir scratched the top of his brown hair, a most unmilitary gesture. "If you'll let me, ma'am."

She motioned with her hand. "Lead on, then."

As they started off, Assant cleared his throat behind them. Stopping, they both looked back at him. "It would probably do us all some good if we knew your name, General," he said.

"Yes, it probably would," Pallas agreed, remembering that she had never introduced herself. "My name is Pallasyndra, but you may call me Pallas."

Kastul was at his station onboard Defiant, serving as a tactical analyst for the fleet. He had been watching the Jedi blips on his tactical screen.

"Fools." Two Jedi had just either crashed into or boarded one of the Republic's warships, one of their ones that had been boarded. The ship would need Jedi assistance, but two was hardly enough to tackle a boarding party of anything, especially Mandalorians. He didn't have the ship that had landed, but a Republic Capital Ship didn't give out a distress call for no reason.

Kastul stroked his chin. He hadn't met either one but...he flipped through the screens. That ship had a fairly small complement of Republic Marines, and their weapons, training, armor, and temperament were all inferior to Mandalorians.

"Captain, permission to leave the ship."

The Captain nodded at him, obviously distracted by the battle at hand. Kastul climbed out of the crew pit and headed for the turbolift.

"Hangar Bay." The turbolift hummed, sliding the door open. His craft, a fighter of three transparisteel rods fused together, sat in the bay along with a handful of remaining craft. He punched in the opening sequence and raised the canopy and slid into the cockpit.

Kastul flipped the primary activation switches, bringing the reactor online, pumping energy into the shields and engines. He shoved the throttle up, shooting through the Magnetic Containment Field and into the cold of space.

Green and red blaster bolts streamed around them, with golden fireballs and shattered hulks. Kastul did his best to ignore it, setting course for the damaged warship.

A Basilisk War Droid dropped in behind Kastul, firing bolts of energy into his aft shielding. Kastul winced, while his craft was incredibly fast, it didn't have particularly good shielding. Shields were down to 11%, and they wouldn't last much longer. He dialed his inertial compensator down to 25%, then slammed the ejection, hurling him into space.

He winced as the ship grew nearer. Momentum was hurling him forward, and it would be pretty hard for him to stop. He stretched out with the Force and began to push, slowing his passage. Enough, anyway.

He impacted the ship, cracking his exoskeleton on his side. He slapped a hand over the cracks, pressing his uniform against the injury. He crawled along the hull, dragging himself to an emergency entry hatch and pulling himself inside. Kastul pulled it shut behind him, gasping in pain.

"A Jedi feels no pain."

He forced past the agony and opened the other side of the airlock, dropping him right behind four Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders.

"Probably didn't check all the variables."

He withdrew his lightsaber from his robes and grabbed the nearest Mandalorian, pulling him close to absorb the spray of blaster bolts from his comrades. Throwing his smoking body into them, he leapt forward, raising his lightsaber into Soresu, spinning his blade in an infinity loop and picking off the stream of blaster bolts. He struck out, preforming Sai Cha and dropping a second Mandalorian to the ground. He leapt forward, bringing his legs around, cutting out another Mandalorian's leg, then driving his blade through his side.

One of the Mandalorians had given up on shooting the Jedi and withdrew a vibroblade and rushed Kastul. He allowed himself to be moved back, easily parrying the relatively sluggish blows from the Mandalorian. He apparently had augmented his blade with a lightsaber resistant material, most likely Mandalorian Iron. He parried a powerful overhand slash, then spun the blade around, pointing it at the floor. He kicked the blade out of the Mandalorian's hand, then cut him in half.

Kastul glanced at the last one and winced. The Mandalorian had a lined up shot. He stretched out with the force, gripping the trigger of the blaster, then he began to twist the blaster until it was pointing at the Mandalorian's eye. There was a crimson flash, then the Mandalorian dropped, a bubbling hole in his helmet. He kicked the bodies to the side.

It had seemed like an eternity, but the two Kiffar Jedi managed to cut a hole in the hull in under twenty seconds. The section was held in place by the thinnest strips of metal and was already distending outward from the incredible suction of space outside the ship. Lux and Anya grabbed for the handles around the doorway and gripped them tight, as neither really fancied being sucked out into space.

As the red display ticked down to fifteen seconds, Lux reached out and levitated a metal barrel container and held it in front of the cut-out section. "Anya!" he yelled. "We're going to have to push this thing as far away from the ship as possible!"

She shot him a look. "I know! Just do it already!" She raised her free hand towards the wall.

Lux immersed himself in the Force to give him strength. Hauling back, he hurled the barrel into the wall section, forcing it out into space. Almost immediately, he felt the tremendous pull on his body as the room depressurized fully. Gritting his teeth, he focused his energies on the hull section, already hurtling far away from the ship and used the Force to push it even further away. He grabbed his comlink and yelled, "Bridge, put down the containment field now!" Without waiting for a response, he stuck his comlink back on his belt and raised the timer to his eye level. Three seconds. Two. One. Zero.

For a moment, everything seemed to go silent and Lux wondered idly if the bomb had been a dud. His idle hope was literally exploded when the bomb went off, a few thousand meters away from the ship. Even with that distance, Lux felt as if it had went off right next to him as the force of the explosion buffeted the ship. Using every remaining scrap of strength he had, he reached for the sliding door and pried the left side open. He gestured for Anya to go ahead of him. She strained against the tremendous pull, calling on the Force to aid her, allowing her to slip past the door. She braced herself and held her hand out to Lux, who took it and hauled himself in. As soon as his foot was past the doorway, he twisted and slammed down the emergency lock, sealing the door behind them. The two exhausted Jedi slumped to the ground, breathing heavily as their lungs compensated for the harrowing experience they'd just went through.

Anya turned to look at her fellow Jedi. "Lux," she said, her voice raspy. "This is by far the stupidest idea you've ever had."

Lux shot her a bemused grin before closing his eyes and leaning against the wall. "Tell me about it."

The ship buckled, hurling Kastul to the ground amidst the bodies of the fallen Mandalorians.

Scrambling to his feet, he glanced around. One alarm. Hull breach siren. Wonderful, the Mandalorians were just going to blow the thing up. He slid his lightsaber back into his crimson robes and bolted down the corridor.

Odd...no Mandalorians. Oh, no.

Now it all made sense. Those Mandalorians weren't trying to hold the ship, they were making sure no one escaped from it until the bombs blew. Fortunately, they were going to try to depressurize or shatter the ship rather than just crippling it the simple

The sirens trailed off. Either the breach had been sealed off, or the Mandalorians had shut off the alarm system. If the latter was the case, this ship might be under their control. Bombs were effective distractions.

"What the hell is that thing?"

He twisted, dropping into a crouch and withdrawing his lightsaber. A squad of Republic Troopers leveled blaster rifles at him.

"Calm down, I'm a Jedi."

"Stand down, men, he's no Mandalorian."

The trooper lowered his rifle and extended his hand. After a moment, Kastul took it.

"What's the situation here, trooper?"

"Mandalorians on several decks, and according to a pair of Jedi, they planted a gravity bomb somewhere on the ship. Judging by that rumble, I'd guess they managed to jettison it."

Kastul nodded. "Where are those Jedi?"

"Don't know. Listen, we could use your help, two Mandalorian Gunships coupled onto emergency hatches on this corridor, we're outnumbered and they've got an E-Web set up. But with a Jedi's assistance..."

Kastul nodded. "Point them out. The Mandalorians are as good as dead."

“I’ll be fine.” CJ replied as he took his hand off of his scorched eye, it had scared the tissue all around the socket and fused his lid shut. He reached to the bottom of his under shirt and ripped off a long piece of fabric. Castov quickly wrapped it over and around his head to cover the eye and stood up.

“Are you sure?” Geonar asked showing a lot of concern for her Jedi saviour.

“Yeah.” Castov assured. “Let’s finish this.”

Jesp walked over to the console one of the Mandalorian mechanics had been working on and began to reprogram the engines. He was setting the Engines to overload and any other system connected to the power supply. If all went to plan in three minutes it would cause quite a light show for any one who was watching the Mandalorian vessel.

“O.K we’ve only got a few minutes to get out of here before we become statistic.” Castov announced as he ran over to the third mechanic he killed to retrieve his lightsaber.

CJ and Golnar then ran out of the room and down to a corridor with several hatches connected to escape pods. CJ clicked the access panel and the hatch unlocked, Castov opened the door and nodded his head for Geonar to go in first. The Jedi followed the Twi’lek in and went to the front and hit the ‘Jettison’ button, the pod shot out of the ship and sped away from it at great speed. Both escape pod passengers looked out of the rear window and watched as all the gun turrets on the Mandalorian ship began to explode. Then the entire ship began to go up in a series of small explosions along the hull before the entire thing went up in a single giant explosion.

Lieutenant Gardevoir shrugged his shoulders as he touched up Pallas' cheek with a bacta swab. "It's not my profession of choice, General," he told her. "Our medic was killed last week and I am the only soldier in my unit with any prior medical experience." He discarded the swab and placed a thin bacta bandage to Pallas' cut. "Gotta do what you can."

Pallas heard the slight pain in Gardevoir's voice. "That's all we can do, I'm afraid," she responded softly.

Just as he stood up, the ship rocked suddenly, throwing the lieutenant off his feet. He would have taken a nasty spill, but just as he was about to skewer himself on the edge of a table, his body stopped moving entirely. He blinked, then looked up at Pallas, who had her arm extended in his direction. She moved her hand and he was gently set on his feet. Exhaling a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding, he said, "Thanks."

"You're quite welcome," she replied, gripping the side of her seat as the ship righted itself.

"It seems as if my comrades have defused the situation," she commented.

Gardevoir picked up the pieces of his medkit that had fallen out in the shake-up. "If that's how they defuse bombs, I shudder to think how they explode them," he commented dryly.

Pallas couldn't help but crack a grin. "They can be a bit... excitable."

"I'll bet." He took out another bacta swab and waved it at her. "I'll need to have a look that other injury."

She nodded and pulled her black tunic up over her head, exposing her arms and midriff and leaving her clad in only her torso undergarment wrappings. The wound from the Mandalorian vibrosword cut across her abdomen in a slightly diagonal line, from her left hip to a bit under her right rib. Her dark Arkanian blood had clotted over, but it still caused her quite a bit of pain.

Gardevoir grimaced as he studied her injury. "Looks like that Mandy nicked you pretty good, General," he said, cleaning the site with the bacta swab.

Pallas merely nodded as she closed her eyes and called on the Force to help numb her pain. She opened them again as she heard her comlink chirp. Calling it over with the Force from the table a few feet away, she thumbed it on. "This is Pallas."

"General," Commander Assant's gruff voice crackled. "We've got more Mandalorian boarding parties already on the ship at other access points. Your assistance would be much appreciated."

"Have you heard anything back from Generals Vanas and Bethesda?" she inquired.

"Nothing yet, ma'am." The commander's voice sounded grim.

"Very well, I'll be there as soon as I can." She clicked her comlink off.

Kastul glanced around the corner and grimaced. A squad of at least twenty Mandalorians with a powerful E-Web repeating blaster set up in the corridor. Most likely holding it until more boarding shuttles arrive. He pulled out his pocket comlink.

"This is General Tyneka. Deck...uh....ah, six, has at least two Mandalorian boarding parties here, and it looks like they're holding their ground waiting for more. I think I can handle this party, but by the time I finish more may have docked. I need backup."

The hatch slid open, more Mandalorians crawled out. They spoke something to each other in Mando'a, then began moving down the corridor. He hesitated for a moment, then reached out, grasping the blaster pistol of a fallen Republic Soldier.

He twisted around, spraying a stream of bolts, doing little more than making a lightshow on the strong Mandalorian armor. But it certainly looked dangerous, the Mandalorians moved for cover, then began laying down some blaster fire of their own.

Well, he could keep this up. For a little while, until one of them realized this blaster was about as effective as a thrown rock. Then he'd be down to his lightsaber, and while that could certainly cut their armor, he couldn't deflect that many bolts. He fired off two shots, then lay back and waited.

Lake sat at the nav station of the Arcadia Raider, keeping her course directed at the centre of the convergence she had created, whilst also keeping the large cruiser in the way of any other ships that were trying to leave. It was getting more and more difficult to convince the other ships that hers was indeed still commanded by a Mandalorian—she was close enough to the other ships for them to have visual contact, and they were noticing that the Arcadia Raider didn’t look as damaged as one would have expected given all of her professed ‘technical difficulties’. It was time to go.

“Commander Kiel, the download’s complete,” the marine sergeant reported to her, showing her a data module.

“Well, Sarge, then it’s time for us to go. You distributed those Mandy stealth generators to your men?”

“Already done,” Sarge replied.

Lake turned to the marine private at the comm. “Private, any sign from Jesp and his rescued damsel in distr….”

Lake noticed that the Mandalorian ship Castov had landed on minutes earlier was starting to explode—first in small burst across the hull until finally culminating in one giant red fireball that engulfed the entire ship.

Lake frowned. “O-kaay, let me rephrase that. Any sign of a Jedi tracking signal coming from any of the debris of the ship that Jesp was on?”

The private slid his chair over to the scanning station behind him. “A faint one, Commander. Coming from a small escape pod at the edge of the debris field.”

“Tractor it in to the hanger bay next to our shuttle is.”

“Oh, and Commander, I’m getting a flurry of chatter from two of the gunships. They look like they’re heading in our direction.”

“Well, set a course to meet them,” Lake said plainly. “Oh, and ask them for assistance. Tell them we may have been boarded and are experiencing sabotage.”

Lake grinned. “Well, hopefully, Sarge, we’ll be far enough away to enjoy the show.” She quickly began to set in the sequence that would eventually overload the engines—but not before her ship was in critical range of the two gunships to take them out and near enough to the other ships to cause any of them within 2 kilometers of the Arcadia Raider serious damage. That done, she set about opening up a secure route from the bridge to the hanger bay.

“Droids disabled, path clear to the hanger bay, and the rest of the ship is in lockdown, and we’ve got stealth generators to make sure we don’t encounter any undiscovered Mandy heroes,” she said to her sergeant. “Data downloaded, chaos and confusion created, ship on autodestruct and collision course, fellow Jedi and damsel’s escape pod recovered ….” She nodded at the sergeant. “Think that’s it?”

“Sounds pretty all-inclusive to me, Commander.”

“Then let’s get moving.”

The dozen marines, their sergeant, and Lake all donned their stealth generators, and headed out the door, sabotaging the door behind them so that it was welded shut. Their route to the shuttle bay was a simple and direct one, yet even with the lockdown, some Mandalorians had managed to infiltrate the passages along the way. But with the Mandalorians’ own stealth technology being used against them, any real threats were quickly dispatched by the Republic marines.

Reaching the hanger bay, Lake noticed that the escape pod was just being hauled in through the atmospheric energy shields. While her marines quickly boarded their shuttle, a captured Mandalorian one they had used to board the Arcadia Raider in the first place, Lake hurried over to the escape pod.

It didn’t take long for her to release the hatch with a quick swipe of her lightsaber.

“You’re just in time,” she greeted as she reached in to give the two occupants a helping hand to get out. “Shuttle departs in less than two min….” She frowned a bit. “Gee, Jesp, what happened to you? You look like crap.”

I then reported to the bridge of "The Defiant" and greeted Tegan Marr , I actually remember her when I was training in Coruscant , I was a kid and she was teen then I was send to Dantooine where my new master was awaiting me, she lost her master too, It has been long since I don’t see or talk to her I hope she haven’t forgotten me.

“Greetings, Tegan thank you for the help and for rescuing me and my soldiers, we owe you our lives. 2 mandalorian heavy bomber ships destroyed our flag ship "The Shield IV”, I have some important information a good strategic that I and my officers managed to study" Then I inserted a datapad into a computer " 2 heavy mandalorian bombers, weak shields but strong cannons and lasers, they are a rock that cant be broken, they saw us when we escaped, I'm afraid they are coming this way. If there is something I can do to help you let me know, I prefer to do something that stand here and look at the fight and mist the action , So if you have a Republic assault fighter I’ll be more than happy"- I said

((Sorry it took me so long to reply...))

"Three of our squadrons have already been deployed," Tegan said. "But we have a few spare fighters in the hangar. You're welcome to use one."

Assant waved her over to a console displaying the ship's schematics. "As far as we can tell, the bomb your Jedi comrades went to deal with detonated a few thousand meters off our port side," he said, motioning to the appropriate parts of the display. "We sustained no structural damage, though communications with that side of the ship are spotty at best. We are attempting to reestablish communications."

Pallas nodded. "And what of the Mandalorians?"

The commander tapped a few keys and zoomed in on a specific part of the schematic. "We have Mandalorian landing parties on Decks Six, Eight and Nine. The one on Deck Nine has been dealt with; we were able to catch them off-guard and destroy their shuttle. Deck Eight is currently being contained, we think we might have it under control." He ran a hand through his spiky auburn hair. "Deck Six is something of a problem. There are two enemy boarding parties there, and probably more on the way. A General Tyneka is there currently holding them off, but I don't think he's got reinforcements."

"I guess I know where I'm going, then," Pallas said, then turned to Gardevoir. "Lieutenant, please form a squad and prepare them for immediate departure to Deck Six. We leave in two minutes."

"Yes, General," Gardevoir saluted and moved off to comply with her orders.

Pallas watched him walk away, then looked back at Assant. "I may just have to steal the good lieutenant away from you after this is all over."

Assant gave her a tight-lipped smile. "Not a chance, General. Lieutenant Gardevoir is one of my best. You'll have to fight me tooth and nail to take him away."

She sighed, unconsciously touching the bandage on her cheek. "I thought as much."

===== ===== ===== ===== =====

Pallas stepped out of the turbolift, lightsaber lit and in hand. She raised it almost immediately as blaster fire screamed towards her from down the corridor. Damn, a repeating blaster cannon? she thought as she motioned for Lieutenant Gardevoir and the rest of her troops to take cover on either side of the hallway. Twirling her blade, she managed to redirect a few blaster bolts back towards the enemy, then ducked to the side and rolled next to the lieutenant as he peered around the corner, returning fire at the Mandalorians.

"Lieutenant, please tell me you're a grenadier as well," Pallas said as she clipped her lightsaber back on her belt and grabbed a spare carbine.

Gardevoir shot her a smirk and motioned to his soldiers. "Thermal dets might make too much of a mess, so I recommend plasma grenades, ma'am."

"Your call," Pallas said.

He pulled a red sphere from his belt in response, then nodded at his soldiers across the hall. "Fire in the hole!"

(( Oh, and Corinthian? This is the time of the Mandalorian wars, about 3,600 years before the Empire. I don't think E-webs exist yet. ))

"Honestly," Anya muttered as she and Lux dashed back down the hallways, their sheathed lightsabers in hand, "That is the last time I'm letting you think of something on your ow--"

Just then, a large detination went off right above their heads. Though there was no visible damage - no roof collapsing or panels dropping, for instance - the shock of it reverberated through the ceiling, down the walls, and into the floor, shaking the structure of the ship itself. The unexpected force caused Anya to almost fall over, though she steadied her with the Force before she truly fell. Pausing, she looked up at the ceiling and muttered, "What in the name of Nar Shadaa was that?"

Her comm. link bleeped, and snatched it from the belt at her hip, holdingt it to her lips as she opened the channel.

"Bethesda."

"The bridge has recieved reports of a large explosion in your area," the voice from the other side returned, sounding almost automated, "Can you identify the source?"

"We were hoping that you could answer that." Anya replied, "There's no cause obvious here - it felt like it came from a deck up."

"There's a Mandalorian boarding party on the deck above you. Generals Pallasyndra and Tyneka are dealing with the problem."

“You’re just in time,” she greeted as she reached in to give the two occupants a helping hand to get out. “Shuttle departs in less than two min….” She frowned a bit. “Gee, Jesp, what happened to you? You look like crap.”

“Well I have an excuse.” Castov joked as he got out of the pod and help Geonar out. “I ran into a plasma torch, you know just for kicks.”

“So what do we do now.” The Twi’lek girl asked.

“We need to get you to a secure location.” CJ replied turning back to Lake. “I presume we’re taking that.” He pointed his thumb at the Mandalorian shuttle.

The Mandalorians had him in a running 'fight through Deck Six, like something out of a circus show. Using his reflexes and senses, he was able to dodge most of their blaster bolts, but he didn't have a blaster with sufficent power to do any real damage. His only real hope was assistance or a blaster rifle stumbling upon his path.

Then again, with the Force as your ally, there was always another alternative. That is, until you come to the inevitable bulkhead.

The Mandalorians weren't too far behind, he didn't have a whole lot of time. Naturally, no vents, grates, or secret passages, no hidden weapons compartments, not even a security terminal he could slice to bring out War Droids or poison gas. That left one alternative.

He withdrew his lightsaber and dropped into his favored style, Shii-Cho, then charged the Mandalorians.

"General Truth, Sir! We've destroyed the Mandolorian Battlecruiser opening fire on us and are now focusing our full fire on the Dreadnought!"

"What is the the current battle status?" Truth asked as he took the head off an enemy soldier and impaled another. The battle to rid the Mandolorians from the ship was in full swing now, with the droids surrounding them on all sides and Truth leading a spear-head into their line. They were splitting apart, and slowly being exterminated.

"General Jesp has destroyed the Artillery vessel and rescued the daughter of a Corellian diplomat. He is currently aboard the captured Mandolorian vessel Arcadia Raider along with Commander Kiel. They are abandoning the ship."

Truth's saberstaff was an unstoppable whirlwind as it cut down Mandolorian troops, and soon they were all dead from both firepower and encirclement. He stood over the corpses of the dead and ordered to the troops in the vicinity "Remove the corpses," Then he brushed off his combat suit and headed for the bridge.

The plasma grenades had done their work, shredding through the Mandalorian defenses before they were fully set up. Pallas led her team in, ferreting out any stray enemy soldiers. Just as they had finished clearing the hallway, blaster fire was heard from a few corridors down. Turning her head toward the direction of the noise, she was just in time to see a Givin Jedi dart down a hallway with a slew of Mandalorians in his wake. She had to blink a few times to fully register the scene in her head.

"Lieutenant, break into fire teams and take different corridors," she ordered. "Try and flank the Mandalorians." Gardevoir nodded and did as he was told. "Oh and Lieutenant," Pallas called out. "Try not to shoot General Tyneka."

"I'll do my best, ma'am."

Pallas ignited her own lightsaber and moved forward swiftly, intent on catching the enemy off-guard.

“Well I have an excuse.” Castov joked as he got out of the pod and help Geonar out. “I ran into a plasma torch, you know just for kicks.”

“So what do we do now.” The Twi’lek girl asked.

“We need to get you to a secure location.” CJ replied turning back to Lake. “I presume we’re taking that.” He pointed his thumb at the Mandalorian shuttle.

"You presume correctly," Lake said. "And you could also presume that it's leaving any minute now and that you're not flying it."

Her eyes flicked to the Twi'lek. "And you must be the damsel in distress?" she asked Geonar, giving the girl a quick but friendly grin. "Jedi Commander Lake Kiel," she introduced herself and extended her hand.

Geonar shook it. "Geonar."

"So nice to meet you," Lake said. "And now if you'll just kindly board the shuttle, we'll be on our way."

She turned toward the shuttle to lead the way to the shuttle's ramp. "Unless you really want to stay and watch the fireworks," she added. "However, I wouldn't recommend it."

To someone as skilled as him, a lone Mandalorian was of no real threat. Not even a laser cannon like an E-Web could penetrate a Jedi skilled in the Force and a lightsaber.

Of course, these Mandalorians weren't exactly 'lone'.

The Mandalorians weren't stupid. As soon as he had charged, the first five had withdrawn Mandalorian Iron vibroblades and prepared for combat while several more attempted to slip around and encircle the Givin. It wasn't a very good day. Kastul was getting tired, even a nearly weightless lightsaber would begin to feel leaden after intercepting dozens of blows, moving at a blur. Eventually, he'd slow down until one of them slipped by and was on his backside, or one of them just slipped a blade around his guard...

He leapt into the air, briefly startling the Mandalorians, long enough for him to change the tide of the battle with a quick slice that removed the heads of two Mandalorians. Well, until the rest of them saw they had an open shot and poured streams of crimson energy at him. He moved his lightsaber in a blur, intercepting or dodging each shot, but it couldn't last.

It didn't.

A bolt caught him on the right breast, throwing him back against the wall with a smoking hole in his chest. His lightsaber clattered against the wall, the emerald blade collapsing into the hilt.

The Mandalorian who had hit him walked up, glancing down on him in his Neo-Crusader armor.

"Any last prayers?"

Despite the pain lancing through him, he had the presence of mind to withdraw the weak pistol and jam it against a joint on the upper leg of his armor. Too exhausted to make a snappy retort, he squeezed the trigger, the bolt passing through the armor joint and into the Mandalorian's body, dropping him to the ground with ominously smoking armor.

Kastul slid to the side, his breath coming in ragged gasps of pain as he slowly slipped into unconsciousness.

Pallas' surprise attack only half-worked, as she and her troops were able to take only a few Mandalorian warriors unaware; the rest quickly brought their arms to bear against the Republic squad. However, they had managed to surround the enemy, pinching them into an open corridor.

Bringing her lightsaber into an upward slash across her opponent's chest, she quickly brough her left hand forward to catch the Mandalorian with the Force, then threw his limp body into the path of several oncoming enemy soldiers, knocking them off balance and allowing her troops to mow them down with blaster fire. They had almost reached Katsul when the Givin Jedi took a blaster shot right to the chest and slumped against the far wall. Cursing under her breath, she redoubled her efforts, slashing, kicking and throwing, letting the Force guide her actions.

Hurling the last Mandalorian into a bulkhead with enough force that she heard the sickening crack of his helmet caving in, she rushed to her fellow Jedi's side. Shaking his shoulder, she called his name, "General Tyneka." When he didn't respond, she feared the worst, especially with the blackened hole in his chest. Turning to Gardevoir, she said, "Lieutenant, we need to get him to the medical bay, now."

The lieutenant nodded, motioning two of his men to come forward and carry the unconscious Jedi.

"Nah i've already seen one today." Castov replied walking with Geonar to the shuttle. "Once you've seen one you've seen them all."

Lake had to grin at the comment. If all went to plan, the destruction of the Arcadia Raider would take out several other Mandalorian ships that she had sent to her 'traffic jam' area. "Oh, this one should be one of the better displays, Jesp," she said as they boarded the shuttle. "And, it should put a damper on the Mando manueverability as well."

"And ours, too, if we don't get out of here soon," said her sergeant. He nodded respectfully to Castov and his guest. "Welcome aboard, General. Have a seat there next to the boys," he said, pointing to some empty seats in and between the rest of his squad. "Be sure to strap yourselves in though. It might be a rough ride."

"As long as we get this data to the Admiral's flagship," Lake said, taking a seat at the nav station and securing herself in it, "and don't get blown up or injured in the process, then it can be as rough as you like, Sarge. Now let's get moving."

The shuttle's pilot, one of the marines, lifted off and soon they had left the hanger of the Arcadia Raider and were heading back toward the Republic lines and the Admiral's flag ship.

"Just try to keep us nice and steady on this heading," Lake said to the pilot, "and in the shadow of the Arcadia Raider until the very last minute. Remember, the less erratic and evasive we are, the more likely the Mandys will ignore us as nothing important. But when you see the Raider start to blow, then punch it and get us as far away as possible. I don't want to have come this far and fail our mission only because we got caught in our own trap."

She looked behind her as Jesp. "Sorry...I mean, don't want to fail both our missions," she added. "You two comfy enough back there?"

As the shuttle left the through the hangers energy field Castov made sure Geonar was secure and then moved to the front of the ship. He tapped the marine who was on the comm station and replaced him at the position allowing thje marine to take a seat next to Geonar. Castov straped himself in and placed the comm headset on and positioned the Mic infront of his mouth.

She looked behind her as Jesp. "Sorry...I mean, don't want to fail both our missions," she added. "You two comfy enough back there?"

"Well Geonar has been in a mandalorian cell, so this is a step up." Castov replied fiddeling with the comm consoles controls. "and i sleept on the beds in the Jedi Enclave... after those anything is comfortable."

Castovs fiddeling with the controls allowed him to open up a secure signal direct to the admiral in the flagship. "Admiral To’Knel This is Castov Jesp I've rescued Priority 1 and have rendevoued with Commander Lake Kiel and her squad on the Arcadia Raider. We are all currently on route to The Pride of the Core"

"Copy that Castov, We won't be able to roll out the red carpet but your arrival will be appreciated." The admiral replied.

Lux and Anya stepped out of the turbolift with their lightsabers lit and in hand, both golden blades casting a pale yellow sheen on the drab gray walls. Lux reached out with the Force, trying to sense for any Mandalorian threats, but he found none. Stalking cautiously down a narrow corridor, he put a hand out and dragged it slowly and deliberately against the wall. Flashes of action appeared in his vision. "Someone was chased down this hallway," he said, withdrawing his hand.

"Let's find out who," Anya said, taking out her comlink. "Bethesda to Pallasyndra, do you copy?"

The reception crackled for a moment, then Pallas' soft voice came through. "I copy, Anya."

"What's your location?"

"En route to the medical bay with my troops, we have General Tyneka here and he's badly wounded," came the static-y reply.

Anya shrugged and turned back to her comlink. "We'll meet you there. Bethesda out."

Now it was Lux's turn to take out his comlink. Thumbing it on, he said, "Vanas to the bridge. What is our status?"

There were a few moments of silence, then the voice of the captain rang loud and clear. "We have all Mandalorian presence on the vessel contained," the crackling voice stated. "The enemy capital ships are all in disarray. Admiral To'Knel has ordered all remaining ships to form up in order to drive off the enemy force."

Castovs fiddeling with the controls allowed him to open up a secure signal direct to the admiral in the flagship. "Admiral To’Knel, this is Castov Jesp. I've rescued Priority 1 and have rendevoued with Commander Lake Kiel and her squad on the Arcadia Raider. We are all currently on route to The Pride of the Core."

"Copy that Castov, We won't be able to roll out the red carpet but your arrival will be appreciated." The admiral replied.

Lake raised an eyebrow. "Priority one, huh?" She glance over her shoulder at Geonar, then to Castov. "So, who is she?" she asked.

There was no time for an answer to her question as through the corner of the view window the first fireballs could be seen starting to explode from the doomed Arcadia Raider. "Everyone, hang on!" yelled the pilot. "Here we go!"

The shuttle lurched as the pilot gave full throttle to the engines and changed the ship's course to make a beeline for the Republic lines. So far they had been lucky in remaining unnoticed by the Mandalorian fighters, but now it was more important to outrun the impending cascade of blast waves that the Arcadia Raider had started. And strobing flashes of bright light told them that it was on its way.

Lake kept a watchful eye on the scanners, searching for any signs of rogue Mando fighters that might have thought to engage them. The shuttle they were in was fast and heavily shielded, but at the expense of being lightly armed. If they were selected by a fighter as a target, their only real defense was to outrun it. And in the close quarters of battle, that wasn't a great option.

Blips streamed across her screen, but none of the enemy fighters seemed to be interested in them, either distracted by the large explosion that was happening behind them or still intent on strafing the larger ships or going head-to-head with the Republic fighters. Never seeing the big picture and always after their own personal glory, Lake thought. Typical, predictable Mandy mindset. Good.

"Still no sign of enemy fighters. Pride of the Core straight ahead," Lake said to the pilot. She began to relax a bit. "I think we may have just pulled this off, boys." Then a flash of red on her screen and an alarm sounded off. "Concussion Missile, locking on!" Lakes said to the pilot.

"Launch countermeasures!" he replied.

She flipped open the cover on some red switches, then pushed one. There was a swooshing sound and then a brilliant red flash streamed in through the view window as defensive flares were launched off to the side of the shuttle. "Countermeasures launched."

The shuttle spun and rocked precariously as the concussion missile exploded near them and the pilot fought to keep control. "That was too close," he said. "Where did that come from?"

Lake's eyes searched the scanners. "Must have been a rogue," she said. "We're well away from any... wait a sec. Got a Dantooine Dung Beatle off the port side," she said, describing a Mandalorian Battleship. "Doesn't look like it's pursuing us though. Might be disabled in some way and just a one-off...." Her screen was flashing again. "Scratch that. Incoming missile again." Her finger poised on the countermeasures button.

"Taking evasive action," the pilot said, and he started to move the control stick.

"No," Lake ordered, using the Force to hold the controls in place. "Hold your course! I don't want them to think we are cowards or have something to protect." The missile drew nearer, and at the appropriate time, Lake launched the countermeasure flares again.

They worked, but the ship rocked again with the blast wave. "I hope that's the last of them," she said. "This is getting real old, real quick." She checked her scanners once again. "Pride of the Core coming into view." She let out a sigh. "Let's aim for a soft landing."